First concert of 2012! Was working with Ticket Pro as a ticket checker/ wrist band girl wtf. Worked for 3 hours, bro kidnapped us to the concert (front section yo!) and best of all, we were being paid.

Being able to watch her live is so surreal. I used to watch her on MTV from her Complicated days and now she’s totally matured musically. Super love the Pumped Up Kids cover that she did that night <3

March

1. Went to Chiling waterfall with the colleagues!

HAHAHAH i caption this picture as “Pulling the walruses up” cos I can feel that i’m damn fat here sumore need 2 people to push my ass up.

Yay, we made it! It was quite a feat actually. After that, we dived into the water from the top. Very exhilarating 🙂

Went there solo in the VIP area but still i had tonnes of fun. They played all the songs except for my fav “Pieces” T3T

3. Odor Fighter launched!

It was my first Kinect game project launched. MRM MY was working on this project for Libresse. It was the fruit of the team’s sweat, blood & tears. And to see it come to life is just so… priceless. Even when it was launched, we were facing some complications but due to the event and tech team’s dedication & perseverance, bugs were fixed promptly and everything went smooth sailing.

May

1. Matthias graduated yo!

So proud of my baby bro (okay la he’s not a baby anymore). Initially i took half day leave to attend his convocation but because he hadn’t walked by noon time thus I extended it to full day. Time spent with them was so worth it. Seeing him walked, had celebratory lunch & dinner session with my bros are just irreplaceable.

Spent 5 days in the longhouse. There are major improvements in the village i.e. got electricity already and… that’s all i think XD. Actually, the more ulu (deserted) it is, the more i’ll love it 🙂 So I hope it won’t become too modernize that it loses the authentic feelings of staying in a traditional longhouse.

It was also the last time i see my parents before embarking on my adventure.

This face was actually my baru finish cry face wtf. Throughout the day I was holding back, reminding myself constantly “don’t cry don’t cry don’t cry in the airport”. Just when I was about to leave, dad was like, “Don’t cry ahh” and tears started falling like waterfall and i hugged dad to cover my crying face haha.

After driving in and out of LYL for 18 months, I bid adieu to my second home. It was a bittersweet memory for me as I really did enjoy working in advertising industry plus it’s McCann!

With the coolest client on earth:)

I started in McCann managing Libresse’s digital advertising area, fell in love and nurtured the brand. It’s a bit sad to leave the baby that you’ve been taking care before seeing it grow full-fetched. But I was very privileged to start off my digital advertising career with the brand. Libresse has widen my perspective and knowledge in digital advertising and I hope to be working with them again in the future.

Safely landed in Christchurch on the 5th of July. I had slight complication getting out of Australia for my flight to NZ. The Aussie immigration love me too much that they didn’t want to let me out of the country wtf.

2. Dunedin!

I actually have a hard time pronouncing Dunedin. I used to pronounced it Doo-nee-din but actual pronunciation is Deh-nee-din. Picture taken at the second most photographer building in the southern hemisphere – Dunedin Railway Station (first is of course the Sydney Opera House).

Managed to catch Cadbury Jaffa race which was SO COOL! I officially went up the steepest street on the planet – Baldwin Street.

ZOMG I was also lucky enough to catch New Zealand Got Talent. Thanks to Li Kee for reserving tickets! What a way to kick-start my adventures here!

3. Goodbye friend.

Didn’t take picture with him before he leaves because I was bawling my eyes out. Looking back, I am SO GLAD that he decided to return home.

Without him, I learnt to stand on my own two feet.

Without him, I have grown into a much stronger person – mentally & spiritually.

Without him, I picked up cooking and baking (and loving it!)

Without him, the universe has blessed me with tonnes of love from people all around the world.

Without him, I have learnt to enjoy my freedom.

4. Hello Hector!

Initially, I signed up for swimming with the dolphin but because of bad weather + it’s winter… who swims during the winter? Thus, I decided to go see Hector swimming. I was in awe the entire time. Hector dolphins are the smallest dolphin in the world and they are just so playful. They kept swimming around the boat as if we were playing “spot the dolphin” game.

Malaysian NZ Working Holiday visa is valid for 6 months thus to prolong my stay here, I’d need to work in the agriculture sector for 12 weeks. Was in hell (okay la to be honest it wasn’t that bad) for 8 weeks. Income was sufficient only for survival (no savings).

Yeah, basically, I worked my butts off for 2 months. Nothing interesting happened #sadlife but I have to thank my supervisors, Thomas & Lim for teaching me how to cook. Like seriously, this girl who has never fry an egg prior coming to NZ and now she can cook BKT and awesome curry and bake the world most delicious muffin (according to my housemates ah, i’m not that buay pai seh 1)

2. Snowwwww! Skiiiiiiiiiii!

Ok i hate skiing. I fucking hate skiing. And snow? Meh it’s not that interesting also. Nothing fancy about it except that it smells like pee. But it’s white snow ah, i’ve checked the color wtf.

But i gotta say that it’s really an experience. I was the slowest learner in the group. I lost count on the number of times I fall. And little kids coming up and comforting me to try harder.

I was supposed to write a post on this but I didn’t get to retrieve the pictures from my friend’s camera 🙁

So imma just go straight to the most funny/ embarrassing part (depends on how you look at it)

Since I don’t think I’d go skiing anytime soon (fucking expensive okay… $150 for 5 hours) so I went up the hill. Mustered the courage from every fiber on my body, took a deep breathe and down I went.

I was doing slightly okay for about 5 seconds then I lost balanced and after that I all remembered was me tumbling down, my vision was snow –> sky –> snowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. It hurt so badly I was afraid that I might break a bone. A lady came by and helped me up. Then I tried again. Instead of going down, I went horizontally and almost went off on the other side of the hill wtf.

Because I was running outta time I told myself to fuck it and walked down.

After all the ups & downs and drama in Blenheim, I escaped to Picton for a woofing job (work in exchange for accommodation) in Sequoia Lodge.

These amazing people were my support system away in a foreign country. The best thing about hanging out with the westerners is that you can just beyourself. They do not take things too seriously thus you can say just do anything; speak out your mind, the truth and they will respect you for your honesty.

I’ve stayed in an Asian home for about 2 months. Unlike our Asian counterpart we actually need to “act” a certain way to be accepted into the social group. Which is kinda sad la… went to a different continent and all you wana do is hang out with your own kind? Might as well just do that in your home country right?

No, I didn’t experience that when I was in Picton. The Malaysians I met there is lovely and i’m so excited for our dimsum session when I’m back.

In mid-October, I headed to Motueka for a kiwi thinning job (TQ Liew for your help in getting me the job. I tell you, the people I meet here are unbelievably nice) Am here for like almost 3 months already. And I remember during my 4th month in NZ, I tweeted, “I’m at the happiest point of my life.” I had the most awesome friends I could ever asked for, my job was super easy, fantastic and it paid well and I found a new excitement haha.

Anyway, the excitement that i found was him 😛 I haven’t blogged about how it happened etc (i have drafts of it! i’m still fine-tuning it) but seriously, it was the most out-of-the-world in a sweet romantic way experience haha.

Somehow in NZ, the speed of courtship is faster by 10x thus every day I would come back with a smile on my face and heart attack. Heart attack as in… the OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED!!!

November

1. Meet the baker.

I’ve always wanted to learn to cook proper meal and bake. Back in the days, I grew up being more in touch with my Chinese side. My grandma was the one cooking for us and the kitchen is her territory. Whenever my mom/ grandma asked for help like peel of the taugeh’s tail or tumbuk the belacan, I would sulk and be unhappy that I was forced to do something that I despise.

I remembered clearly my grandma asked me to do something. I reluctantly helped out and did it half-heartedly. Grandma boh song then she said, “GO WATCH YOU TV LAA!” I immediately left and glued myself to the idiot box wtf.

People do grow up! So one fine day, I was 38-ing and observed my roommate. She was baking banana cake so I volunteered to help out and the following week, I baked for the first time.

With no practise beforehand, no supervision by my si fu, I baked with love and it was successful!!! Mommy would be so proud of me. Heheh.

In NZ, I hold by this saying, “It’s New Zealand. You have to try something new!” and fishing is one of the things I tried.

It was SO MUCH FUN!!! I am kinda addicted to fishing wtf. Though at times it can be as boring as hell but when a fish bites your bait, you just couldn’t contain the excitement 😀 😀 😀

3. Single no more.

Actually, he didn’t like really ask me to be his gf wan wtf haha. It just sort of… happened. I mean, while working he will make his move from casual conversation about my life back in Malaysia to light physical brushes to uhm… :X A lady doesn’t kiss and tell 😉

Sometimes I was a bit confused also la cos during work we’re like inseparable but once we’re back home, we do not keep the feelings alive. Sometimes I’ll be like, “YAY, i found a guy who gives me my space when I’m back home. I’m so happyyy!” but some days I’ll be like, “WTF why he didn’t choi me wannn!” Usually, I’ll brush it off, comforting myself by saying he’s not the texting type.

Anyway, things kinda confirmed after our 3.5 days of not seeing each other at work. The boys were placed in a different orchard doing kiwi pruning and when they came back, he just gave me this long i-don’t-want-to-let-you-go hug. But still to me, it might be just physical. It doesn’t confirm that we’re in a relationship also. To my perspective, if a guy tells his friend that you’re his gf then it’s onz wtf. So that weekend, the barbecue weekend, it was onz haha.

As you guys had known, i played netball in NZ. Once. And maybe… just maybe I will train with them in January.

2. Kayak!!

On le first day of summer, we went kayaking!! My first time so i was very excited!!

My biggest fear is the kayak capsized. But the kayak instructor gave us a detailed instructions, guidance and we even have an SOS firework if the worst thing happened. It costed us $50 for 3 hours (4 hours for $55)

3. NYE

I didn’t wana spend unnecessary amount of money for NYE (HEY I forego that $50 top during boxing day ok. i iz awesome) My ideal way to end 2012 is to have a home-cooked meal.

I was dying for a picnic and he was very nice to do this heheh. I kinda like picnic. It gives the warmth, cute, romantic feeling without the overly cheesy-trying-too-hard stuffs.

Personally, 2012 is a year which I learn about myself. I understand myself better and I know where I stand and how to move forward. Traveling especially puts me out of my comfort zone and when you’re standing at the edge, the decision you make will reflect the person that you are.

Ironically, I don’t believe in making new year resolution (‘cos let’s face it. we tend to forget by Valentine’s). So, I just go with the flow. I don’t have the discipline to improve myself based on the list written. I am far more free-spirited than that haha. Thus, I try to improve myself whenever I can and in every aspect possible.

Guess what? Guess what people?! I have been living in NZ for 6 months already. So fast right?!!! I feel like I just got here. It’s amazing that I made it through so long. Out of the 6 months, I was 5.5 months happy 0.5 unhappy hahaha.

Always stay positive. As cliche as it may sound, life IS short. Whenever I face difficult situation, I try to look at it in the most positive way. I believe that you can control your emotion – you can choose to be sad or happy. Why waste your time dwelling in sadness when you can be brimming in happiness. Thus, whenever complication arises or things do not go my way, smile, move on and better things will definitely come your way.

Relationship wise, being with a Korean is not all roses. It’s cool in a way that I get to learn about the culture first hand but our upbringing is TOTALLY OPPOSITE. He was brought up rather traditionally and conservatively. Whereas I was brought up to MTV and the western values that come together with it wtf. There are a couple of hiccups throughout the relationship but I believe toleration, communication and compromising are the key to keeping the fire alive.

Apart from the differences, we complement each other perfectly. I wanted to share something funny happened recently however i can’t think of it at the moment >.<

One thing I must mention in this “self-reflecting” post is how much I *heart* cooking now. Previously I wasn’t cooking much because I think it’s so mafan to cook a nice meal for just a person. Somehow, moving in with him played a role in that transition. It makes me wana play the housewife role, the doting and understanding girlfriend.

The other day, I talked to my mom about cooking for full 30 minutes. Can see my mom’s contented smile. She must be thinking, “Oh finally my daughter has grown up!”.

OK I have been writing this post for a week already. I’m just going to click “Publish” and concentrate on Shrek 2. Tomorrow I shall start the first day of my “hell” period. 6 days a week, I work from 6am till 3.30pm in a factory. A mussel factory. With no music, fun and freedom. I am so going to be bored to death. Wish me luck.